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I’ve been hearing from PEF members both by phone and email and according to other sources it sounds like a large batch, perhaps the bulk, of layoff notices are scheduled to be going out later today.

This is in contrast with the waves of several hundred notices at a time that were going out in July, before they were pulled back pending the contract vote.

“We were told yesterday. We are awaiting our written notices by the close of business today,” said one PEF member who works at the Office for Technology.

This makes sense for a number of reasons: the Administration has already had a dry run in executing the layoffs last July and while there are still some positions that have to be targeted, the apparatus is largely in place.

Also, it’s that much later in the fiscal year, which runs through March 2012, and the Cuomo Administration needs to act quickly to hit its savings target (For PEF, that would be the $80 million in savings that the contract would have brought).

And, as lots of commenters have noted, the first-in-last-out rule doesn’t necessarily protect longtime employees since there are plenty of people who occupy the sole title in their agency, regardless of how long they have been there.

I’ve heard from several people including the OFT worker who has 30 years of experience, who has been affected since she’s the only one in her particular title at her agency.

“I may retire or I may be fired,” she said, explaining that a bumping scenario may require moving to a different unit or a pay cut that would make retirement relatively more attractive.

This woman didn’t want to give her name for fear of getting in trouble and getting her boss in trouble but she was taking an understandably dim view of some fellow state workers today. “There is a sense of entitlement,” she said, adding “The public sector has been insulated for a long time.”

She went on say, “I have to laugh when I hear the president (PEF President Ken Brynien) say ‘I demand’ from the governor. She was alluding to Brynien’s statement yesterday that he and PEF members demand that Cuomo’s negotiators come back to the table for more contract talks. She noted that PEF doesn’t seem to be in much of a position to demand anything at this point.

Mostly, though, she sad there is sense of gloom in her office. Co-workers were planning a retirement party and cake for one fellow who had been planning to retire this week and it’s not sure if even that will happen.

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